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16 Tips For Setting Goals

Without a direction, we are apt to merely flow through each day, without ever moving towards any meaningful thing. Setting goals allows us to follow along a path, and to make our each of our daily actions an important part of a picture.

Here are 16 goal setting tips that will help you find the right direction to follow.

You not only need a reason that matters to you when seeking a certain goal. You need that reason to be a good one. Trying to lose weight is a good goal, but not if you are doing it just to “tone” up for the summer. You need a reason that really connects to you in some way. Losing weight to have more energy for your kids is a good reason, but it still doesn’t go deep enough. True transformations occur when an event really cuts deep into a person and forces them to re-evaluate themselves.

2.) Make Realistic Goals

Set a goal that you can actually accomplish, but it can’t be one that can be done with ease. The reason it is a goal is that it is a point that must be worked towards, and a point that can eventually be reached. An unrealistic goal is a meaningless one. It is a fictional story that doesn’t connect with the person.

3.) Expect To Achieve That Goal

Why would you set a goal you wouldn’t expect to reach? If you have doubts about whether or not you can reach it, your results will match those doubts. Expect yourself to achieve the goal and you set yourself up with the correct mindset.

4.) Write The Goals Down

Very often, we think we have a goal that we are trying to achieve when actually we just think about achieving it from time to time. We think about saving money and about getting a project done, but we never actually write it down. Think of it like going to a store without a shopping list. We just get what looks good instead of actually having something to look at and move towards. And because of that, we end up with a lot of junk we don’t need.

5.) Analyze Past Goals

Setting goals is really hard to do. It is something we can learn to do better though. Analyzing past goals is the key to getting better. Why did a goal fail? What did it take to reach it? Asking questions like these will make sure you don’t make the same mistakes again.

6.) Break Large Goals Down

Often when setting a goal, we initially start out with a lofty one. There’s no problem in doing this, but it’s like setting your destination as Mount Everest when you are starting out in Nebraska. There are a lot of places in between you need to account for if you are ever going to make it. Breaking them down allows you to see these places out and plan for them as well.

7.) Focus On The Task At Hand

Breaking large goals down allows you take one step at a time. Focusing on that one step means you can worry about the moment you are in, being fully part of the environment. You will get more out of each experience and set yourself up to better reach your goals.

8.) Study The Goal

Learn everything you can about how to achieve that goal. Learn just how every action you do can have an effect on whether or not you achieve it. The more you know, the better chance you have at achieving the goal.

9.) Realize How Goals Are Connected

The deeper the knowledge you have, the more you will see how goals are connected. You will realize that a proper diet will not only help you lose weight, but also have a happier disposition. You will realize how learning to how to converse with others help you in business and with your relationships. Goals are connected.

10.) Force Yourself To Be Accountable

Tell others what you are going to do. The more people you tell the more backlash you will receive if you fail. This makes your task that much more important. It will matter to you. If you don’t tell anyone you can easily brush a failure off through your own rationalization.

11.) Realize Your Own Speed

Give yourself the right amount of time to reach your goals. Know how fast you learn, what your schedule is like, and what kind of deadlines you can meet. Being honest about these things will allow you to not set false expectations about how quickly you can move.

12.) Do Something Everyday

There are always schedules that we have to keep up with. We have to work, run errands, make food, do chores, etc. We don’t have large chunks of time to work on projects. That is why it is important to pick out certain things to do each day and get those things done. The goal will be reached, if at only one day at a time.

13.) Keep The Passion

Remember the reason for wanting to reach the goal. When you are at your most tired is when that reason will matter the most. It is when you will realize if that reason really mattered to you in the first place, because that will be the way you are able to still be passionate when you are exhausted.

Use your best judgment when trying to reach a goal. Realize that shit happens. If there is a genuine excuse for why you can’t reach the goal, something beyond your control, then let it go. You aren’t going to reach every goal. The important thing is to keep your passion.

15.) Don’t Fret If You Don’t Reach It

You should expect yourself to reach every goal, but if you don’t, it is not the end of the world. It becomes a learning experience, something to fuel even further goals down the road.

In order to be a happy goal-seeker, you need to be prepared to enjoy the daily grind that it takes to reach those goals, because those are the bulk of the time it takes to reach the goal. While the moment you achieve it matters so much, if you don’t enjoy each day of going after it, then you’re just wasting a lot of time doing things you hate.

Concluding Remarks

There are many different kinds of goals you can try to reach, but each of these goals requires proper planning. Wholesome goals are not easily reached, but having the right mindset and strategy can really help.

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About Mitchell Sahlfeld

Mitchell Sahlfeld graduated from Fort Hays State University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy where he also garnered two NCAA Division II Track and Field All-American Honors and one Academic All-American Honor. He is most interested in the topics of philosophy of education, how we learn, and how to live well.

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